In “The New Criminology”, Max D. Schlapp and Edward E. Smith say that two generations of statisticians found that the ratio of convicts without religious training is about 1/10 of 1%. W. T. Root, professor of psychology at the Univ. of Pittsburgh, examined 1,916 prisoners and said “Indifference to religion, due to thought, strengthens character,” adding that Unitarians, Agnostics, Atheists and Free-Thinkers are absent from penitentiaries or nearly so.

1. Religions often teach the concept of hell, where there is eternal suffering of an unimaginable degree. This concept is taught to very young children, and in order for them to accept the idea that some of the people they care about will burn in hell for all eternity, they must turn off their compassion for those people. Even in religions that teach that hell is only for people who have done really horrible things, it still forces people to turn off their compassion for other human beings. Once a person, especially a child, learns to turn off their compassion and shrug their shoulders at eternal suffering, then being able to do the same thing for real-world, short-term suffering is much easier.

2. Religious individuals often feel as though God is guiding them in some way. This may be through prayer or just simple emotions, but it allows individuals the ability to decide that their emotions and desires are sanctioned by God, so when they gain the urge to do harm, they are more likely to convince themselves that they are justified because they have such strong emotions that they feel are given to them, not by the neurons firing in their brain, but by God.

3. If there is something morally wrong in society, or with an individual, the religious person has the ability to chalk it up to God’s “Mysterious Ways”. This can diminish a person’s desire to make a difference because they believe it’s all part of some great plan.

4. Religions often teach that it’s not easy for a person to have morality without the concept of heaven and hell to motivate them. This teaches people that they do not have the mental capacity to be good without an outside motivator.

5. If people are taught that heaven and hell are necessary for a moral society, then this implies that there is no inherent logic to being moral, and implies that there’s nothing to be gained here on earth by being good, and implies that there won’t be immediate emotional consequences for wrongdoing.

6. Religions often teach belief in God and prayer as a moral issue, so a criminal can believe that they can atone for anything simply by worshipping harder.

7. Religions often try to establish arguably irrelevant things as moral issues, such as masturbation, homosexuality, or blasphemous thoughts. This fills a religious person’s mind with a whole list of things they can’t do, and wastes precious moral willpower that could otherwise be used to resist the urge to lie or commit crime.

8. When things like masturbation, homosexuality, or blasphemous thoughts are given such attention as moral issues, a religious person may gain the idea that they are on par morally with other things such as burglary or rape, and they see a world that is full of masturbation, homosexuality and blasphemous thoughts, and they are able to think, “well, what’s one more sin in a world of sin?”

9. The concept of hell teaches eternal suffering, essentially a punishment, or an act of vengeance against anyone who is either a bad person or somehow angers God. This can set a precedent for people that states that it’s morally acceptable to make people suffer in order to get what you want.

10. Religions teach people to believe in a very specific set of spiritual concepts, and believe that these concepts are absolute truth. However, they see other people all around them who do not share their beliefs, and often have other belief systems that are equally beautiful. So the only way for many religious individuals to maintain such an absolute belief in their own concepts and to resist the potential joy found in other belief systems, is to turn off their empathy for anyone who does not see things the way they do, and refuse to imagine things from other people’s perspectives. When you are less able to see things from other people’s perspectives, you are less likely to feel compassion for them, and therefore more capable of doing things that harm them.

11. People are often told that religion will “draw them toward goodness”, and some people take this to believe that it happens automatically so they never come to realize that it takes real willpower, and they don’t learn to work with their own emotions, because they keep expecting it to happen simply by worshiping or reading a holy text.

12. If a person already believes they’re going to hell, and if they think that there is already no way to redeem themselves, then there is nothing left to stop them from committing whatever wrongdoing they might want.

13. The concept of original sin reinforces the idea that we are helpless to stop our criminal urges.

14. Religions teach people to follow, whether that be the church, preacher, the holy text, etc. and can leave individuals with an inherent desire to allow others to tell them right from wrong, which makes them more susceptible to propaganda and pressure from peers.

15. People learn from what they see and imitate others around them, especially people who are built up as being greater than they are, such as God. This reaction frequently can be entirely subconscious. So when they see God causing suffering in this world, and doing some of the horrible things that He does in religious texts, it may instill an individual with a subtle, subconscious desire to commit similar actions.

16. When individuals are taught to submit to and put their faith in a God as their guide, this can make them feel helpless to make their own decisions and reduce their confidence in their ability to resist criminal urges.

17. If a person is harmed by an accident purely by chance, it is usually less traumatic than if another person purposely causes the injury. So if a person has had a particularly difficult life, as the majority of criminals have, then they have a much higher likelihood of being emotionally traumatized by the unfortunate things that have happened to them because they believe that it was done to them on purpose by a God instead of by an act of simple chance. The extra trauma simply adds to any potentially unstable personalities.

18. The concept of evil can often be used as an identifier for individual human beings. It’s easy and convenient to believe serial killers are possessed with an intense and unbreakable evil brought forth from a higher power. The problem is when this concept of evil is placed on people who are not so horrible. When you accept the idea that a supernatural evil is at work on this planet, it is easy for you to believe, for example, that your wife who cheated on you and broke your heart is in fact, evil, and this can lay the foundation for a person’s justification for revenge. When we believe that people are evil it reduces our confidence in being able to affect a change in that person, because we believe their bad deeds come from an all-powerful, supernatural source.

19. Sometimes when a person is feeling emotions that may lead them toward crime, they will talk about it with someone, and even attempt to receive professional help. A religious person is more likely to seek out or be directed towards religious help and are more likely to wind up discussing their problems with individuals who do not have psychological training in crime prevention.

20. There are numerous logical arguments not to commit crime or other harmful acts. This is not to discredit the emotional and spiritual arguments against crime and wrongdoing, but if you look at the long term personal effects of committing a crime, and analyze it based on pure, “cold-hearted”, even selfish logic, you will still find that committing most crimes just doesn’t make sense. However, sometimes, our short term emotions or spirituality tell us otherwise and we may have a desire to, for example, take vengeance on someone or steal something we really, really want. A religious person is less likely to be devoted to “cold-hearted” logic, and therefore less likely to have thought about the real-world, long-term consequences of their actions.

21. It’s clear in our society that violence and crime interests people. It’s no wonder our movies are full of violence, and violent news gets significantly more air-time than peaceful news. This is because violence interests us and fascinates us. If we are made in the image of God, then doesn’t God also have the same fascination and interest in violence? Wouldn’t that make it acceptable to commit violence, since it is entertainment for our Lord? Some will claim that nobody thinks this way, but when you think about it from a blindly devotional standpoint, it makes perfect sense, and even if only one out of every thousand religious individuals feels this way, the consequences for society could be devastating.

22. When people are taught that the afterlife is eternal and is so much more important than the earthly realm, or that our world has no purpose without it, this devalues our world and it’s people, and makes it easier for a criminal to justify his actions, because when compared to eternity, it’s pretty easy to argue that a simple crime is insignificant.

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Here’s a blog post I made about this article to clarify some of my thinking.

64 thoughts on “22 Ways Religion Promotes Crime”

Religions played very important role in human beings before industrialization. After industrialization, however, they have been largely placed in secondary positions in both advanced capitalist and communist world due to obvious abuses of human rights and did not solve the human sufferings by religious leaders through economic development . This means religions so far failed to solve human sufferings present world.

I’ve kinda noticed that nobody ever actually addresses the points that I’ve made. Funny, huh? Nobody addresses the actual OP, but instead just tries to distract from the points I’ve made instead of challenging them. Evgenii gave it a shot a long time ago, so I give him props, but no one else has even tried. If I’m so wrong, then shouldn’t you be able to go through and explain in logical, real-world terms why my individual points are incorrect?

This is a fallacy (an error in reasoning). Specifically, a circumstantial ad hominem which simply put means disregarding a person’s argument based on their circumstances (e.g. disregarding an atheists argument surrounding religion because they are not religious). Just because this person is not religious does not mean that what they have to say is not true or should be ignored. Why not offer a counter-argument that is actually valid?

For you to come out with this kind of submission claiming that more people go to prison because they are Christian show your level of understanding of christianity is all about. jesus was never a thief or a turge in the street. he rather came to deliver many from the prison of sin including you. If any one goes to prison for whatever crime even when he or she bears a christian name of goes to church does not make Christianity a fake religion. If any man be in Christ he/she is a new creature old things must pass away and all things become new. if you commit any crime and you are caught, you should be jail if found guilty. Please think twice and give your life to christ before it is too late. Thanks.

I have always said that Religion is the mordern day slaveryof conscience.Many people have blind faith and they see nothing good in any other religions.For example,when the late Gorvernor of Kaduna State in Nigeria died in an helicopter crash last year a Muslim leader in that State went on air and was rejoicing that it was Allah’s intervention unbehalf of Muslim in that State.Such religious leaders are not of GOD but of devil.They forget that every humanbeing is a creature of GOD.There is one I want to add ot this write-up ,GOD has no religion as any religion is simple a way to spiritual development,but many religious leaders are spiritual novice in this regard.

Rukia
You seems to be a muslim.
Instead of advising the writer,why dont you do some research on your own religion.day of death of mohamed arose the strugle of power among the mahajers and ansar and then started bloodshed among the earlly muslims u mean from omar to yazid and on and on and up date I dont see muslums are living up to their religion,everywhere in muslim world I see no religion power strugle and funny enough these power strugles are been given name of religion.i dont understand if goodness of religion remains idle in a holy book can be any usefull to mankind.and what about saying of a muslim poet who said,
Inn rusulon ki kitaben taak per rakh do faraz
Nafraton ke ye sahife umr bhar dekhe ka koan.

YOUR POSTINGS REGARDING THIS MATTER IS AMAZING. MOST PEOPLE GO TO CHURCH NOT BEAUSE OF THE LOVE FOR OD BUT THE FEAR OF SATAN.SOME RESORT TO CRIME BEAUSE THE RULES SET FOR ONE TO HEAVEN ARE UNATTAINABLE.

they are really amazing truth about religion…but not on the personal relationship with God…God did not establish religions..it is human being who did…God wants a relationship with Him..and in order for you to have it is to have faith in Him that He exists and know His will through the scriptures (ignorance of the Bible is ignorance of God). after knowing His will is to integrate it in your life and live by it.

If you don’t believe it you are hopeless. Because hope is only found and possible through the Lord Jesus Christ. we are all sinners in nature and we cannot save ourselves through good works. Good deeds will not bring us with HIm because we still fall short. The Father made a way for us through His Son Jesus Christ in order for us to be with Him in Heaven. God is holy and perfect, and thus, He hates sin, and since we are sinners, His wrath remains in us if we do not believe and receive His Son in our hearts. But His love and being just is in balance, He gave His Son to die on our behalf (but was raised because, His sacrifice was perfect because He lived without sin, the Father accepted it and was pleased), because our sins must be paid through physical and spiritual punishment which is eternal in hell. And that what human deserves and destined because of sin inherited (from Adam and Eve who was perfect before disobeyed God) and made by individuals.
The Scripture says, And this is the testimony, God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life and he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. The other one, it says, for by grace you have been saved through faith- and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God-not by works so that no one can boast.
consider this equation: salvation=faith(our part)+grace(God’s part)-work or faith+grace=salvation+works.

in short, our good works cannot bring us to God but it could get us away from Him.

we do good works and it is only then acceptable to Him after we put our faith in Him. which means our good works are of no eternal value if we don’t have Him in our hearts, they are just filthy rugs in God’s sight as the Scripture says. Thus, in order for you people that your good works would not be wasted, do it for God and receive His Son Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior. He died for you and me and prepare a place for us in heaven. He justifies with His blood those who believe and put their trust in Him. Repent from your sins which means live a life that pleases the Lord according to the Scriptures, confess from your mouth that Jesus is Lord and Believe in your heart…

I tell you..,it is a privilege…it is not deserved or earned,, the Scripture says…yet to all who receive Him, to those who believe in His Name, he gave the right to become the children of God. There are only two sides whom you belong in this world, to God or to the devil. There is none such somewhere in the middle.
This is the goodnews for everyone, for the sinners, for you and me, for the undeserved…a hope.

Yes I agree with u.I have always said that GOD has no religion.JESUS DIED for all humanbeings and not for xtian alone.JESUS said said;
I HAVE OTHER SHEEPS OUTSIDE THIS FOLD;I.E outside xtian fold.But a group of religious leaders have ruled themselve out of that SPIRITUAL BLESSING FROM GODas they claimed that GOD HAS NO SON.

Mr. were u there when Jesus was truelly born by virgin Mary? all na stories. can·t u all reason and do findings before making up ur mind on anything call religion?…u are all just enrich ur so call religious leaders and their families to archie their aim and objectives. that is all.

Hope remains in all things in this finite world of ours. God gave Adam and Eve free will, and in doing so allowed them and their descendants to make mistakes. But in making mistakes, people learn. By falling short, they realize that their path was wrong and walk on another path. Again, this path may lead to failure, but the individual was gained more in learning. Walking a path that just so happens to by the “right” path teaches nothing. By feeling lost, people can be found, often by others if they lend out their hand.

To say that everyone falls short and all are sinners is, in my own (and admittedly biased – I won’t lie) opinion, says that hope is unattainable by the majority, whom, if the Bible is right about, have God’s unconditional love. Unconditional love means being nonjudgmental and accepting of the faults in others, ergo, the journey to God’s good graces may not be as great a distance as many believe.

To me, God is like the ultimate parent, kind, caring, supportive, stern and scolding. Ultimately, a parent will want their child to venture out into the world, becoming independent while at the same time look out for his or her siblings. For how can humanity grow if we don’t have each other. And while Hell may be punishment for sinning, surely a loving God may eventual forgive those that failed, maybe even be upset with Himself for making Hell necessary.

My point, I guess is this: God loves all His children regardless of what makes us different. Indeed, our diversity as a species, from our race to our sexuality, to our social class to even our faith, may in fact endear us even more towards God.

the writer is ignorant. what ever she has perceived is based on superficial knowledge .she should revise her research as well as the condition is to embrace any religion after that write your opinion.if a patient happen to die during operation it does not mean doctor has murdered him.research again and come to know whether they have knowledge of any religion or they are just born in christian,muslim or musliman in other religious families.then review your comments.thanks

@ Rejath what utter nonsense, you disregard thousands of years of scientific discoveries and independent thought by having the audacity to say that Missionaries brought knowledge to India, I guess you are one of their product..

Hi, Folks!
We all need to be open-minded and avoid being a bigot and an attitude of a doctrinaire.
As a free-thinker, I believe it’s one’s upbringing, surroundings, mind-frame, outlook and attitude that decides and determines one’s lifestyle and future.
Any Religion, for that matter, is not at all to blamed for all the evils that exists or are committed by individuals. As such, you cannot generalize on any count.
Every Religion, without any exception, teaches and preaches humanitarian values that lead to welfare of mankind and every society.
All Religions’ teachings are ethical and spread moralism.
God’s blessings on Patriarch Abraham, Lord Jesus Christ, Prophet Mohammad, Lord Buddha, Lord Zoroaster, Lord Rama, Lord Krishna, Lord Baha’ Ullah, Lord Nanak Devji, Lord Mahavir!
Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism, Jainism, Zoroastrianism and Bahaism, all are good Religions, leading you, ultimately, to the same God-Rabb-Elohim-Allah-Khuda-Yazdaan-Bhagwaan-Eshwar-Deo-Dei, all leading us to the same path of peace and propagating humanity.
Please don’t blame the Religions, blame your own misunderstanding and lack of awareness, your mental level, as you are unable to grasp and understand the true meaning and message of the Holy teachings of all Religions.
I shall do a treatise on this subject, later on, in more details.
Hope, for the time being, this shall be a food for thought.
God bless ye all!

Religion: ”(1) the belief in a superhuman controlling power, esp, in a personal God or gods entitled to obedience and worship. (2) the expression of this in a worship. (3) a particular system of faith and worship. (4) life under monastic vows.”

— Oxford dictionary

Now, disprove a definition of religion which doesn’t apply to Christianity.

the Scripture does not defined the religion that way…religion is serving…like for the widows and orphan and/or anyone who are disadvantaged or deprived…

what God desires from us is not about traditions, religious practices and rituals, forms of worship, and temporal faith, but a relationship with Him…to love Him with all our heart, strength, mind and soul. By acknowledging Him in all our ways, trusting Him that He cares for you, and giving our lives to Him through serving others for His glory and honor..

you know what is worship?: worship is a lifestyle, it is honoring Him in all our ways, it is more than singing and singing though its one of its form but it is giving your affection to Him…that what He desires from you and me..

He doesn’t need us, but He wants us…

Believe and know the Scripture like a child who thirst for a pure milk…for you to experience the truth that we’ll be unveiled by God to the teachable and open in heart and mind..

I concur with the original writer, but there is a difference between religion and Christianity. God, the creator has never ordained, endorsed or encourage religion. the whole human race is lost because of sin. God, sent his only son JESUS CHRIST to die to set the human race free from sin, which is punishable by complete separation from all that is good and holy and righteous. Hell was not even made for man, but for the devil. so all humans have to do is to ignore the thousands of religions that exist on the earth and follow JESUS CHRIST, he changes lives. He is the only mediator between God and sinful humans. But God made a way so that humans can be forgiven, no rituals to be done, just a sincere prayer from the heart to God the creator in the name of Jesus Christ, and God will forgive the sin, and change that life, give hope to them.
All God requires from man is repentance; sincere genuine repentance asking Jesus take up residence in your life and see what God does after that. I have had the experience for forty (40) years now, and I have genuine peace, love and joy in my heart. world’s, personal or family issues does not weigh me down any more, God, through Jesus gives “copeability”

Religion: ”(1) the belief in a superhuman controlling power, esp, in a personal God or gods entitled to obedience and worship. (2) the expression of this in a worship. (3) a particular system of faith and worship. (4) life under monastic vows.”

— Oxford dictionary

Now, report a definition of religion which doesn’t apply to Christianity.

I think that there is no clear line between religiousness and atheism. At this stage many people are in transition, may be a huge population. Most are Christians, Muslims etc only by name. I personally believe that religion is not a bad thing altogether. But religions have been polluted by us and they are being further distorted continuously. It is difficult to preserve verses for ages. PS I am still learning things. I personally believe in Islam because it seems least polluted to me.

I think you didn’t mean atheism, most people are either agnostic or they don’t even ask themselfes the question about a god.
But you are right, most of the people are only believers on the paper.

I would not call it polluted, I would say advanced. Religion must fit our society not vice versa. We are aiming in a direction where you can choose to believe or not, instead of being forced to believe. There are too many bad examples what it means when a religion is in a leading role in a country.

The majority of Americans are christian. The majority of prisoners are christian. duh. Why would this be any other way? The majority of drug users are white, does this mean white people prefer illicit drugs more than any other ethnicity? No it means that there are many more whites in the population to begin with so of course the numbers will reflect that. Do you understand what the concept of majority means? Not that I’m even religious, but come’on do some research, get out of here with this nonsense

Hi Jeff Foxworthy. First of all, I’m a big fan 🙂 …unless of course you’re just an anonymous internet user who doesn’t want to hear a rebuttal.

Second, your point would make sense, of course, if the overall numbers were proportionate, but they are not. “two generations of statisticians found that the ratio of convicts without religious training is about 1/10 of 1%”. Did you read that line? That is clearly disproportionate. Granted, the definition of “religious training” is a little vague, but there is simply no way to argue that %99.9 of the population has religious training. “10% of America is Atheist. 00.2% of prisoners are Atheist.” This too, is clearly disproportionate. Christians have a 1-1 ratio of likelihood of going to prison while according to this statistic, atheists have a 50-1 ratio. That’s a pretty significant difference and it would take a great deal of discrepancies in the study to account for that.

Then even if the numbers were proportionate, the point would still be valid, because religious supporters frequently argue that people cannot be good without God and that religion makes society better. If there were any truth to this, Christians would have a much lower crime rate.

I think the one who wrote the text knows about simple concepts as majority, but you lack the very basic logic someone needs to see that the proportions are off. If you would have read the text with your brain operative, your comment would have been unnecessary.

Sorry for my harsh words. But I think it’s even more harsh to criticize someones work without reading the text in the first place.

The concept of God is inherently harmful to the progress of humanity. If God existed, which he does not, then the crimes committed every day in the name of religion would be never ending. The basic concept of religion is bigotry. How could it be otherwise? If you are going to heaven merely because you believe in Jesus and you are supposed to believe that your friend merely because he believe in Moses then how are you supposed to see him as an equal? An equal who will burn in hell for all eternity? How inclusive is a religion when your acts on earth are irrelevant in where you spend eternity? Ask yourself this question: If Mother Theresa had been exactly the same person she was in life and performed all the same acts of selflessness where would she be now if she were Jewish? If you answered Heaven you are ignoring the basic principle of Christianity that the only way to heaven is through Jesus. If you believe that your actions on this earth determine your eternal destiny again you are not a believer in any of the Judeo-Christian type religions. If you are a follower of one of these three religions then you believe in yourself and your kind to be “Chosen” and you practice bigotry in your faith every day. Your refusal to accept logic in favor of “faith” is only an expression that you have abandoned your faculties in exchange for fantasy.

I found this site while reserching Shinto beliefs and have been amazed at the lack of simple clariry in most of the comments. Why is it so hard for religeous people to see that their imaginary friend is just adding to the in-group\ out-group divisions in our troubled world?

What you call Christians are not exactly Christians, since they have been raised by atheists in the American school systems and indoctrinated with atheistic propaganda. They are a kind of Chimera.

This can explain why especially American Christians are often not internally coherent in their moral logic. However, I must say that many things you defend are equally inconsistent with sound reasoning.

Masturbation, while enjoyable to many, is a detriment to creation of family, a biological necessity. Fertility rates decrease during a time when one masturbates regularly.

Homosexuality, while compelling for many, is likewise a detriment for similar reasons to masturbation, though without the decrease in fertility. However, if you are taking on the feminine role in the relationship the estrogen levels can be driven quite high, suppressing the testosterone and consequently diminishing the fertility – not that it matters, since it is not so likely a homosexual will take the opportunity to procreate with a woman.

The biological necessity as an organism to procreate is about as materialistic as you can get. Yet, many materialists denigrate its significance in order to protect their views that homosexuality should be protected – chiefly because it is a stand that brings in supporters against their hated opponents, Christians.

Wow, finally, some intelligent comments on something other than my WordPress plugins. Unfortunately I have to say what I say in those comments, which is that I’m so busy I don’t know when I can find time to address these points.
I did however, take note of your first point in this comment, and should point out that a woman was murdered in the name of Jesus on the front lawn of my childhood home by someone who was entirely home-schooled by a devoted Christian family.

I am very sorry for the trauma you must have had over this incident, regardless of its association with the name of Jesus. Having someone murdered in the name of Obama would have been terrible as well in your front yard.

And this proves what? That all Christians are crazy, due to one person? That the enterprise of religion as a whole is bunk from an isolated incident?

The Christians I know are about the most mundane, average, and boring people I know. Atheists, on the other hand, seem to have a chip on their shoulders. Maybe because they have a mindset that convinces them they are on the outside looking in or on hte fringe, or some other such nonsense.

I have to admit that I knew one Christian who slept in his car, not that this proves anything, but it was merely a strange oddity in his situation. On his car he had spray painting the words, “Turn or Burn!” I had a few conversations with him and he was willfully obnoxious, believing that the insensitivity of those who rejected the lure of Christianity had closed their ears so hard one had to yell to get their attention. What he hadn’t counted on was that the attention he was getting was not the kind he was seeking.

And finally, here’s my response to your top comment. Thanks again for posting your thoughts, Evgenii. I know this is a topic that’s difficult to delve in deeply without hurting a few feelings, so I hope I wasn’t too hard on you 😉

I always think it is interesting when christians defend there morality with biology/evolution.

Homosexuality and masturbation are not detriments to having children. There are many chances to produce offspring, men produce millions of sperm daily, and just because someones sexual preference may be for the same sex does not mean that they will not want to have children (I know quite a few homosexual couples that have conceived and had children, and while it might have to happen outside of the “monogamous” relationship it happens consensual by all parties for the benefit of all.

(Wo)men came from apes as your biology shows and if you watch apes they practice homosexuality and masturbation all the time and it doesn’t deter them from reproducing. In fact masturbation, I would argue, helps procreation as it teaches the sexual functions.

The fact that you think atheists pander to homosexuals since they share a common theist enemy (pretty sure it isn’t just christians) is pure cynicism. Homosexuality is not in any way morally wrong. Just put on the “no god glasses” and take a look around and see what you see. Why would you hate someone for who they want to sleep with? I don’t even want to know who people sleep with in general.

In the past masturbation and homosexuality was a sin of lust. Now, because it would be unpopular to argument with a sin like this they say it’s “detriment to creation of family”.

If masturbation would be bad for making children the planet would be a very lonely place.
But hey, thank you Evgenii Petrovsky, you should get the Nobel Peace Prize for solving the upcoming problem of overpopulation in a very peaceful way without one-child policy. Masturbation is the key for a better world. You are my hero.

About your comment, Evgenii, I’m a little confused. Many health specialists do not say the masturbation has negative effects on one’s health; many in fact say it is healthy and natural. Surely the only negative thing about masturbation is the risk of hurting oneself during the act, but the stigma that it is detrimental to one’s person is merely myth to discourage “wasteful spending” (or whatever religions call it).

And on your comment on homosexuality: there’s no proof it is “compelling,” as studies have shown that one’s sexuality is influenced in utero, and that females related to homosexual males are actually more fertile than those that aren’t.

To comment on homosexuality’s war against Christianity, it’s actually the other way around. Gays and lesbians turn away from religion because in many cases they have been burned by the use of the Bible to persecute them. In fact, many religious followers have hunted down and even killed those of the LGBT community without provocation, claiming it was done as God’s will (what God is doing condoning murder when it’s clearly condemned in his Top Ten is beyond me, but so is everything He does, so never mind). And anyway, many women in the western world do ask their gay friend to help them conceive and raise a child. And many homosexual relationships don’t have a feminine/masculine role, nor do testosterone levels change in one of the partners to compensate, so comparing same-sex relations with opposite-sex relations is brain-dead (no offense).

And on your comment on orgasms: they’re awesome. I don’t say that to make your views on it insignificant, but for those that DO enjoy sharing a bed with someone who reciprocates their love, is it really up to anyone else, even God, to vilify it?

The stability of a person’s personality in response to moral dilemma’s is dependent on whether they are willing and able to change their behavior to match the moral expectations.

If they cannot or are ultimately unwilling to conform to their view of moral requirements, even if the unwillingness is at a subconscious level, then they must adjust in other ways. There is contradiction, which indicates a logical adherence in the first place, and negates some of your previous arguments.

It is true that some of these people go mad. It is similarly true that many atheists have gone mad due to incoherence of their materialistic views of people and others’ persistent love towards them. Love drives atheists mad.

You also ignore the prison ministries that have tried to change prisoners’ attitudes toward life. Many of them become Christians in order to convince the parole board they have changed. They hope to be let out sooner than expected. When they poll religious views of prisoners they all say they are innocent of their crimes and they suddenly believe in God. So the point you’ve made is absurd.

Your use of statistics is ridiculous. If a law is controlled by antagonists of religion then many practitioners of religion will be in prison and many who are opposed to religion (atheists) will be free.

Your first point shows your argument is weak by the fact that you do not accurately represent your opponent’s viewpoint. It is a straw man you are attacking, not an actual practice. Therefore, your point is empty.

The second point shows similar weaknesses in your argument, though you are starting to espouse your worldview at this point. We see that you are a materialist, which in itself is untenable. You must turn off your compassion switch for others to redefine such abstractions and invisibles as Love in materialist terms of chemicals and neurons firing.

The third point is a very good point, indeed! There are many, not only religious adherents, who believe this. Atheists have been just as guilty. Consider the Socialist Communist movements that led up to Soviet Communism. Lenin had the same feelings about a grand scheme, related to the flow of inevitable events of the universe. In his case, time proved him right, though temporarily so.

In point number four you return to that weakness again. You obviously have not stepped inside a church and listened to your opponent since about the 1960’s have you?

Point 5 is more futility based on your straw man. It also reveals your narrow definition of logic. To have prioritized dependencies on the origins of morally causal relationships does not exclude logic, but deepens it to a realistic model of the world. So having a view of a reward and a punishment from a higher being than us actually emulates the society we have built anyway. The metaphorical modeling, whether religion models our society or society models our religion, it works. What doesn’t work is the pressure put on a majority of people when the system they live in tries to ignore their practices as a legitimate expression of life. It always erupts into social upheaval.

I doubt you will approve my comment and it is probably too long to post. So this is likely a waste of time. Likewise, my experience with atheists and antagonists of religion is that they are too narrow minded to allow opposing views. It is fear that drives them to do it.

Sorry it took so long – I sort of neglected to come back and post a link to my response to this comment, so here it is. Figured it justified a dedicated blog post. Thanks again, Evgenii. I really appreciate hearing your thoughts.

“That’s kinda true of blah blah blah” …….. That was a comment posted by an idiot! Sorry, but you made me spasm like four times by your well UNTHOUGHT out response. This is merely a blog of speculation with no statistical assistance. I recommend if you try to make a point. . . please do so with information to back it up.
Yes, there is a correlation between religion and crime rate, but it’s not just Christianity! It is all religions that commit haneous acts “in the name of God”. However, these are fanatic groups! Not all religions have the mentality of commiting crimes because this is a huge contradiction as to what they are taught. The fire and brimstone teachings does nothing more than teach people if they are not good (in God’s eyes) that they suffer the possibility of no ice water!

This is pretty true of both Christianity and Islam. I don’t think this even applies to Judaism and certainly not to Buddhism or Hinduism. Also, it doesn’t apply to all Christianity….the Episcopal church, for instance, doesn’t view heaven and hell as destinations, but as states of mind right here on earth.

Katie , you say so because you really don’t know about what is happpening in India . In the state of Orissa , the people who convert to Christianity are being burnt alive . Moreover , Every religion in India has a fanatic (official or unofficial) religious group except Christianity .

Christianity is viewed as the source of knowledge in the Indian sub continent . It is the missionaries who brought knowledge to my country . Even though Christians are least in number in the country……they run most of the educational institutions .